


Watch Your Tone

by WeCanKlanceIfWeWantTo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is too pure, Alternate Universe - College/University, American Sign Language, Art Student Keith, Asexual/Aromantic Original Characters, Bonding over bathroom sinks, Cop Shenanigans, Denial, Eventual Smut, F/M, Genderfluid Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk and Pidge are roomates, Hunk has known his soulmate since like fifth grade, I had to re-write and edit this 3 times because Shiro doesn't get love I guess, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance never shuts up once he finds out he can talk, M/M, Pidge likes to mess with people, Soulmate AU where you can't speak until you meet them, rated for language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-18 23:40:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9407900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeCanKlanceIfWeWantTo/pseuds/WeCanKlanceIfWeWantTo
Summary: Keith is just fine with not being able to talk.  Sure, it makes school a little bit harder, but he's finally in college, so it wasn't impossible.  Lance, on the other hand, hates it.  His hands are almost always sore from signing or writing.  He can't wait to speak and be able to communicate easier.  When they meet by chance in a tiny coffee shop and the halls a few times, they realize that maybe it's not meeting the soulmate that counts, it's who they are.





	1. By Chance

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea, and I love it, so I'm gonna run with it

As his beat up old car pulled into the parking lot of his dorms, Keith pulls out his phone.  His brother was supposed to be here to help him move in, and was nowhere to be found.   As he texted Shiro, there was a knock on his window, nearly causing him to jump out of his seat.  He glared at his brother, still in uniform from work.  “ _Thanks for the heart attack, asshole_ ,” Keith wrote on the small whiteboard most people who haven’t met their soulmate have.  Shiro just smiled and signed out **_You’re welcome_** with a smile on his face.

 

When the two boys entered the room with several big boxes, they saw a girl sitting on one of the beds in Keith’s room.  She seems settled and focused in on a book.   Her eyes flicked up at the two boys, and she waves at them nonchalantly.  She stayed out of their way as they moved, and Keith wondered if she hadn't met her soulmate yet, or if she was just quiet.  On the last run of Keith’s belongings, a boy with short, messy brown hair bumps into him, sending them both to the floor, also sending Keith’s armful of art supplies sprawling.  With barely a **_Sorry_** signed over the other boy’s shoulder, he was up and off again.  Shiro helped him up. Right as they set this last armful of stuff down, Shiro’s radio began emitting a series of beeps.  Keith knew it as Morse code, which is how any law enforcement officer who hadn’t met their soulmate communicated.  He took the device off of his belt and pressed a button on the side in the same code, letting dispatch know he was on his way.  **_Sorry that I can’t help you unpack.  Duty calls_** ¸ Shiro signs before heading out the door, urgency in his step.  Keith sighed and began to open boxes with the small pocketknife he always had on him.  He got through about half a box before his roommate stands and stretches her arms.

 

“You need help?” She asks, walking over to one of the many boxes on Keith’s bed.  He nods, and they get to work, asking and answering questions about each other.  He learns that her name is Amelia, but she prefers Amy, she hasn’t met her soulmate and doesn’t have one because she doesn’t feel attraction to anybody, sexual or otherwise, and wants to be an English teacher.  He tells her about how he likes art because he can communicate through it even though he’s never met his soulmate.  Within an hour and a half, they have everything unpacked and somewhat organized. 

 

When they walk out to the room, Keith sees the rude guy who ran into him earlier.  He obliviously waves at Keith and gets a glare from the other boy, who then turns into his arm and coughs a few times.  **_That guy knocked me over earlier, barely apologized, then waves at me.  What’s his deal?_**  Keith signs at Amy who just smiles and signs back, **_Oh, that’s Lance.  He’s kind of all over the place.  Don’t let him get to you_** , and then drags him by the hand to a coffee shop on campus.

 

The atmosphere is nice, with couches and chairs scattered about, with student either just sitting and conversating in some way, or doing homework.  Amy goes to grab them a good spot, and Keith waits in line behind a bigger dude with a yellow headband and tanned skin.  He takes his order with speech, and when Keith gets up to the counter, He just orders a cup of black coffee for himself and a drink that is probably about 90% whipped cream for Amy.  When he turns around, somebody crashes into Keith again and spills both drinks on him.  Keith looks up, and it’s the same guy, Lance, from before. Keith simply gets up and leaves, angrier with Lance than about the drinks.  He doesn’t even have time to change his shirt before his first class, so Keith has to go all of his classes smelling like coffee

When Keith gets into the classroom, there are easels set up everywhere, and he lets out a sigh.  At least he won’t have to do much writing or signing in this class, and can just paint.  As the class fills up, he takes a seat behind an easel, and begin to look at the other students.  With only a few seconds to spare, the professor rushes in, his vibrantly purple hair sticking out in several directions, babbling about how there was a car accident in front of him, and he and his friend had to give a report to a cop, and then he stops dead in his tracks, his eyes wide. “I think that cop was…” he whispers, a hand over his mouth.  He shakes his head and launches into his introduction.  The art professor (who insists we call him Thace, none of this “Professor” business, it’s too formal) is nice, and his apparently newfound voice has a sort of calming tone to it.

 

On the way back to his dorm that night, Keith gets a string of texts from Shiro, saying he’s taking him out for dinner, and that he does not have a choice.  Keith lets him know that he wants to shower first, as somebody spilled coffee on him, and since he’s been in classes all day, he couldn’t change.  When Keith walks into the dorm building, he gets a text, and the second he looks down, Keith’s new favorite person bumps into him.  Again.  This time, Lance’s arms are full of paint, and it spills everywhere.  When Lance tries to help with the mess, Keith just pushes his hands away and storms into his room, dripping with different colors.

 

“I officially hate that Lance guy.  He has bumped into me three times today.  Look at me! I look like a Jackson Pollock painting gone terribly wrong!  He has no fucking respect for anyone.  I spill coffee and drop some of my stuff, and now I have to wash all this off before my brother gets here, and… son of a bitch I think he’s my soulmate too.  Of course, it has to be an asshole like that,” Keith yells, throwing his hands up in the air.

 

Amy is laughing so hard she falls out of her bed with a loud thud.

_The Other Side_

               

When Lance wakes up, he does so late, which isn’t surprising.  He shares a dorm with Hunk’s soulmate Shay, and she’s already left for the day.   He looks at his phone to see how much he overslept, and he has fifteen minutes to get to his aquatic studies class, which is across campus.  He throws on a shirt he found on the floor and his favorite hoodie before bolting out of his room, trying not to be late on his first day.  He pulls out his phone as he runs to make sure he has enough time to run and grab a cup of coffee before.  He doesn’t and then he runs into someone, sending various paintbrushes, colored pencils, and other art supplies, plus a boy with a legitimate mullet, sprawling across the floor.  He signs a quick **_Sorry_** over his shoulder and continues running, barely making his class.  His professor is a redheaded man with a full, bushy mustache of the same color.  He introduces himself as Professor Coran and begins his lesson.

 

After that class, he has a few moments to spare, so he decides to get a cup of coffee at a small shop on campus.  He sees the mullet guy from earlier there and gets in line behind him.  When he turns around, Lance steps forward, and it’s one second too soon, as they collide again.  The other boy doesn’t even stick around long enough for Lance to apologize this time, he just leaves the coffee shop, understandably angry.  Lance goes back to his dorm to shower and change, and Shay is there this time, talking on the phone to Hunk.  He waves at her, and she gives an enthusiastic wave back, smiling brightly.  Shay has always been so nice, and Lance is glad that she’s his best friend’s soulmate.

 

Once he’s clean and changed, he heads off to the rest of his classes.  Near the end of his Bio class, he gets a text from his other friend Pidge, telling him to come over.  Pidge is a really cool person.  They met their soulmate in an engineering class, which is great because Pidge needs a genius to keep up with their constantly running mind.  A second text comes, telling Lance to bring paint and to not ask questions.  He goes to his dorm and gathers up some paint he has lying around from an old project in one of his science classes.  The lids don’t quite fit properly, and when he’s jogging to Pidge’s dorm in the next building, he doesn’t see the guy with the mullet until it’s too late, and they crash into each other like it’s become routine, which it almost has at this point.

 

When Lance tries to help, the mullet man just shoves his hands away and storms off again.  There is paint everywhere, and Lance lets Pidge know that he’s going to be late, because he can’t stop making a mess, literally.  He cleans up the paint on the luckily tiled floor and then goes on his way to Pidge.  When he walks into Pidge’s dorm, which they share with Hunk, Lance flops into a beanbag and sighs.

 

“I think someone hates me, but I don’t know.  I’ve spilled both coffee and paint on them, plus I knocked over some of his art stuff.  He probably wants to punch me in the face, and I don’t blame him.  Why am I such a mess?” Lance says, then realizes he just actually said something.

 

“Well I hate to break it to you, but I think this guy who hates you is also your soulmate,” Hunk says, smiling while Pidge is laughing their ass off.

 

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuck”, Lance says, falling somewhat like a jellyfish out of the beanbag.


	2. By Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misunderstandings cause drama and angst

Amy was still laughing at Keith when there was a knock on the door.  Keith opened the door to reveal Lance, and then the only thing that stopped him from slamming the door shut is Amy’s hand.  She looks up and sees who Keith was about to shut out and burst into a brand new set of giggles.

 

**_What do you want_** Keith signs out of habit.  He sees the other boy’s smile falter some, but then he just signs back **_To apologize for running into you a bunch today_** with mildly shaking hands. _**I’m Lance, by the way.  See you around,**_ he continues, before turning away and almost running down the hall.  Keith feels a pang of guilt in his chest, but there is some sadness too.  Lance used sign language, which means Keith wasn’t his soulmate.  It didn’t cross his mind that maybe Lance was having the same thoughts as Keith and just used sign language because Keith did.

 

Keith shuts the door and goes into the bathroom, before stepping into the shower to wash away all of the paint and leftover coffee before Shiro got there.  As Keith stood there, watching the colors spin down the drain, he kind of felt bad for almost closing the door on Lance, when all he wanted to do was apologize.  Keith shut the water off and stepped out of the shower, shaking some of the excess water out of his hair.  Once he’s dry, dressed, and he’s pulled his hair into a small ponytail, he steps out of the bathroom.  He sees Amy in a purple shirt, with a matching apron on it, that says “Vrepit Sal’s” in a scrawly font.  

 

“What’s that?” Keith asks, pulling on his boots and checking his phone.

 

“Work uniform.  It’s a pretty decent diner nearby campus.  You should stop by sometime,” Amy replies, twisting her hair into a bun before grabbing her purse and heading out, waving over her shoulder.  Keith decides to read a book before Shiro gets here, and he gets so lost in his book that he doesn’t hear his phone go off.  It takes Shiro knocking on the door to bring Keith back to reality.  Keith opens the door to his brother, no longer in uniform.  He waves, before scanning Keith’s room.

 

“So, um where’s your roommate?” Shiro asks, taking Keith by surprise.  He debates answering verbally, but he doesn’t.  **_Work_ ** , Keith responds, shutting the door after he finishes signing the word.   **_So, you’ve met your soulmate, obviously.  Do you know who it is?_ ** , Keith asks, bumping his brother’s shoulder.

 

“No, but I narrowed it down to either these two really nice guys I met at work today or your roommate,”  Shiro replies, scratching the back of his neck.  Keith decides to wait on telling Shiro that there is no way that Amy’s his soulmate until she’s around.  Keith gives a thumbs up before walking to Shiro’s car.  The drive was short, and much to Keith’s surprise, it’s the cafe Amy said she works at.  Shit, he should tell Shiro now, shouldn’t he.

 

“Just so you know, Amy doesn’t have a soulmate.  Like, at all,” Keith says, before exiting the car and running up ahead.  Shiro doesn’t leave the car for a moment, most likely shocked from Keith so suddenly speaking.  It was admittedly hard to not sign everything he wanted to communicate and knew he would slip up again, but hopefully, this time wouldn’t be as massive as a fuck up.  He didn't know how he was going to deal with the situation with Lance, but he would take it a step at a time.

 

Shiro had finally caught up with him and clapped a hand on his shoulder.  “So, when were you going to tell me that you had a soulmate?  Or was I going to have to figure it on my own?” He asked, barely needing to jog to keep up.

 

“I was going to tell you when you dropped me off.  Either that or when you were taking a huge drink, just to watch it shoot out of your nose,” Keith replied, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.  Shiro gently pushes him, laughing a little and rolling his eyes.  Keith smiles and holds the door open for his brother.  They enter the restaurant, and the person leading them to their seat is some dude with long hair.  He winks at Amy as she passes by, to which she rolls her eyes before spotting Keith.

 

“Hey there, Keith.  Is this Shiro?” she asks, handing the both of them menus.  Keith nods, and Amy both replies and takes their order in one sentence, which is impressive.  “Ah, Keith’s told me a bit about you.  I’m Amy, his roommate.  What can I get you guys to drink?”  She finishes her statement by whipping out her order book and a pen, then looking at them expectantly.  Shiro orders a coffee, while Keith sticks with water.  She leaves, and Shiro turns on Keith.

 

“So, any clue who your soulmate is?” He asks, getting closer to hear Keith better.

 

Keith lets out a sigh and leans back. His soulmate wasn’t a good subject even before he met them.  “Yeah.  He’s a little bit taller than me, his name is Lance, and he has a tendency to run into me and spill shit everywhere.  Not to mention I fucked everything up already.”

 

“I doubt that Keith,” Shiro replies, cocking his head to the side.  “What exactly happened?”  His brother stared at him expectantly waiting for an answer.  How was Keith supposed to explain that he may have caused his soulmate to think he was rejected.

 

“Well, I opened the door when he knocked and I may have accidentally signed instead of talking.  In my defense,  he signed back at me, so I’m alone anyway,” He explains, becoming bitter near the end of his small rant.

 

Shiro leans back, sighing and rubbing his face with both hands.  He emits a deep sigh and looks at Keith.  “Yeah, you definitely could have handled that better.  The question is, how are you gonna handle it now?”  he asked in his best “concerned adult” voice.   Keith looked at the napkin and silverware on the table, thinking.  He actually wasn’t sure, and when Shiro figured that out, he lets another sigh out.  “What am I gonna do with you?” Shiro asks, smiling a little.

 

“Shut up, you know you love me,” Keith said, smiling back as Amy came back with their drinks.  The two of them looked over the menu before ordering burgers and fries.  After Amy heads to the kitchen with their orders, the two of them make small talk about their day, when Shiro stops mid-word, standing up and walking to the entrance.  Keith’s eyes follow him, and he sees his art professor from earlier, along with Lance and two other people.  The two groups aren’t here together, but Keith’s eyes fall on the table, hoping that Shiro doesn’t bring his soulmate over.  He seems content to just talk to Thace.  It clicks in his mind that he’s Shiro’s soulmate, and an inexplicable wave of jealousy washed over him.  It’s not like Keith purposefully signed at Lance, but knowing he was one of the unlucky few whose soulmate rejected them in some form or another still sucked.  Keith’s heart drops when Shiro turns to the other group, pointing at the short one.  They talked for a while before Shiro turned back to one of his soulmates.

 

The two chatted for a while, before the person who led them to their table before came up, and Shiro came back.  Keith kept an eye on where Lance and his group were seated, and they were at least far away enough that Keith could try and figure a solution out with Shiro without having to worry about Lance finding out and freaking out in public.  

 

“So, Lance is here.  Seems like a good kid.  He didn’t talk though.  I’m sorry, kiddo,” Shiro says, taking a sip of his drink.

 

“How exactly did you know the other person you talked to?  The one with Lance,” Keith asked, shrugging off the pang of regret he felt.  Lance really did reject him then.

 

“They’re my partner’s little sister.  They look a lot like him, so I figured I’d say hi.  Small world isn’t it?” Shiro responds

 

“That’s life.  Tell me about your soulmate, Shiro.  Is he everything you ever dreamed of and more?” Keith responded sarcastically, clasping his hands under his chin and batting his eyes.  Shiro laughed at first but then got a somewhat serious look.

 

“He’s pretty great.  Teaches art at the local university, so you probably already know him. I’m picking him up tomorrow so we can go on a proper date,” Shiro says, getting a distant look in his eye.  Amy shows up with their food, and the rest of the meal passes without anything significant happening.  After they finished their food and paid, Shiro drove him back to the dorms, where he collapsed face first on the bed, and screamed into his pillow until his newly found voice was gone.

 

_ The other side _

 

Lance decided that he wasn’t just going to sit around and mope.  He walked past Pidge and Hunk, who was still laughing, and decided he was going to try and make amends.   He walked back to the dorm room he thinks he saw his soulmate come out of and knocked on the door.  The dark-haired boy opened the door and signed something that didn’t really register to Lance because he felt his heart drop.  He communicated that he was sorry, then went back to Pidge’s room.

 

This was the time for moping, Lance decided, flopping face-first onto Pidge’s bed, groaning loudly.  Hunk had a class he had to go for, but he promised Lance a trip to Sal’s, which made things better, even if only a little bit.  He then left the room, sending one last sympathetic look at Lance.  Pidge patted him on the back, in an effort to be reassuring.  

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Pidge asked, looking up from their schedule

 

“It’s just such crap, you know?  I waited my entire life to meet this person, and we’re not even actually a match.  I didn’t even get his name  I just can’t help but feel like there’s something wrong with me.  Like I’m not good enough for a soulmate,” Lance says, turning over to face the ceiling.

 

“That’s bullshit, Lance.  If anything, this guy wasn’t good enough for you.  You’re Lance McClain for fuck's sake!  If you let this keep you down for long, I’m absolutely calling Area 51 and letting them know that there are body-snatching aliens, and they took my best friend” Pidge said, standing up.  “Now c’mon.  I’m gonna get you ice cream or something while we wait for Hunk,” they said, grabbing their wallet

 

“Okay.  Thanks for the pep talk, gremlin,” Lance responds standing up and grabbing his phone before walking to the door.  The two of them walked down the street to an ice cream parlor, and both of them got three scoops, despite the fact that they’d be going out later as well.  They ate them as they walked back, and Lance childishly ducked behind a bush when he saw his soulmate exiting the building.

 

“Seriously?” Pidge said as they watched the car pull away.  “He left campus, so you can stop cowering in the foliage now,” they continued, looking at their friend like he had lost his mind.  When they got back to the dorm room Hunk was just getting back.  He was engaged in a conversation on his phone, so the other two were silent as they entered.

 

A few moments later, Hunk ended the call.  “You guys ready to go?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at his friends.  Lance nodded, and Pidge gave Hunk a thumbs up.  The three of them walked down to the student lot, chatting idly about their classes this term.  When the got there, Lance saw an already familiar mullet through the window, sending a wave of panic and sadness through him.

 

They went into the diner, Lance looking down at his feet.  The guy sitting with his almost soulmate stood up, and they walked over towards them, and Lance felt his heart jump into his throat.  He started talking to the man behind them though.  After a few minutes, he turned and struck up a conversation with Pidge.  Turns out he works with Pidge’s older brother, and they’re partners.  After he goes back to his seat, Pidge took out their phone and texted Matt.  A few seconds later, Pidge looked at Lance.  “Your would-be soulmate’s name is Keith.  You’re welcome,” Pidge said before Shay smiled at them and sat them at a table in the back.

 

Their server came over, and they ordered milkshakes.  Lance saw Keith and his friend leave, and he let out a small sigh.  “Guys, what am I gonna do?  We go the same college.  What if he meets his actual soulmate and lives happily ever after with them while I’m stuck here all alone?”

 

“Lance, you’re stronger than that and you know it.  Soulmates don’t live happily all the time.  I’ve known you for years.  You’ll get through this.  You always do,” Hunk said, a comforting smile on his face.  Lance loved Hunk.  He was always so supportive, and he honestly didn’t know where he’d be without his best friend, but he’s grateful he doesn’t have to think about it.  Their server came back with milkshakes, and they all ordered something they knew was good, as they had been eating here for quite some time.

 

“Pidge, why do you always order chicken strips?  You know there’s other stuff on the menu that tastes good,” Lance asks, punctuating his question with a sip of his milkshake.

 

“I like them, Lance.  Don’t shame my food choice,” Pidge says, squinting her eyes at Lance.  They glare at each other for about two seconds before laughing out loud.  By the time Hunk is able to get them to stop, because they would just look at each other and start laughing more, their food had shown up, and Lance dug into his chocolate chip pancakes.  They ate rather quickly, as Pidge had a night class to get to, and on the way back to the dorms, Hunk played “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls, because he knew Lance couldn’t help but to sing along with all his might.  Even when he couldn’t talk, he would sign the lyrics and dance like a fool.

 

When they pulled into the parking lot, Pidge leaped out of the car and ran up to the dorm they shared with Lance, grabbed their bag, and by the time Lance had gotten up there himself, Pidge was gone.  He decided to lay down on his bed, and let out a groan into his pillow, gradually growing into a scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS TOOK FAR TOO LONG! I had it nearly finished, but then my laptop decided to go "Oh that 2000 word document? Never seen her before in my life" and then Shiro wasn't allowed to have anything nice ever, and I had to re-write it twice. I swear the next chapter won't take as long.

**Author's Note:**

> Third person is hard to write when I'm so used to first person. It's a thing, and I'm over it. Hope you enjoyed this mess I like to call writing. Leave some love maybe?
> 
> EDIT: Due to the whole age thing with a certain character, I did some minor editing to names and pronouns for people. Two characters have pretty much switched roles.


End file.
